Eco-Conscious Living
2 Upcycled & Free Storage Ideas
Happy Tuesday, people! I’m still catching up from being out of town for 5 days, so pardon me if I just share a quick storage and organizing tip with y’all today. (Whoops! Did I just say “y’all?” I guess a little bit of Nashville snuck home in my vocabulary!)
Several of you’ve requested I share more tips on DIY-ing inexpensive or free storage ideas – so here’s a peek at a few ways I created free storage in my basement work room overhaul.
1. Repurpose Cardboard Boxes
If you have the space to do so, always store a few cardboard boxes. They make great, customizable storage containers! (Remember how I used them to create fabric-covered storage bins in my bedroom?)
After a few swipes of the razor blade, a skinny, rectangular box (similar to a cereal box) was turned into the perfect filing place for all my sheets of sandpaper. You know what else it would work well as? A magazine file! All you’d need to do is cover it with a bit of pretty fabric or paper, and voila!
2. Save Take-Out Containers
I recently used some take-out containers to create simple and functional hat storage on my studio walls. But that’s not all these containers are good for! I stockpile them like crazy, because you never know when they’ll come in handy.
Ryan’s new toolbox provided the perfect landing pad for all sorts of smaller hardware pieces, but I didn’t want to throw them in there to make one big, jumbled mess. I turned to my trusty stash of Chinese (or Thai) food take-out containers, slapped some Dymo labels on those babies, and instantly had grabbable containers for things like electrical tape, curtain hardware, etc. This way, whenever I need something that’s stored in the toolbox, I’ll be able to easily sort and find it. An added bonus? Once I find the items I need, I can easily transport them to the room I’m using them in, without having to lug around the whole tool chest.
And remember – if you want to have containers on hand to work with, then be sure to have a large container for the stash somewhere. I keep mine in a few bins in the basement storage room, and I save everything from the containers pictured above to glass jars to tea tins, and more. Pretty much, if it’s a useful seeming container, and it’s clean [not to mention cute], I save it!
However, don’t turn into a hoarder. Over Christmas I had to go through my stash of cardboard boxes and select some for recycling, because it was getting out of hand.
That’s it for today. I promise to share the awesome nuggets of info I learned at Blissdom later this week – I just need some time to put them all together, but I also didn’t want to go crazy with Blissdom overload on the blog, in case some of you aren’t so interested in it!
In case you missed these last week:
- My Unusual Journey to Blissdom (kids, don’t do this at home!)
- Ryan’s latest blog takeover
- Rental Decorating 101: Tips for Painting a Rental
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A greener grocery trip
Has it ever bugged you that reusable grocery bags are all the rage, yet people continue to fill them with produce wrapped in plastic bags? It’s sure made me think – and I finally decided to do something about it. As one of the products for my new Etsy shop, I’ve sewn up some sets of tough yet lightweight reusable produce bags, and hand-stamped them with fun and colorful fruit patterns:
The bags have a coordinating drawstring ribbon, which can easily be cinched closed to contain all your healthy goodies. The two larger bags can hold a large bunch of celery or greens, or a dozen apples – and the smaller bags can hold a handful of lemons, 6 limes, bananas, etc.
After a ton of thinking and experimenting, I chose to make them out of 100% unbleached cotton muslin so that they were easily washable and strong. I chose not to use mesh like many others are using because the nylon is not a natural fabric, nor is it as easily biodegradable. I’m pretty pleased with how they turned out. You can snag a set for yourself (or for an eco-friendly stocking stuffer) over at my Etsy shop, Flourish Pets and Home.
EASY Chem-free microwave cleaning. Really.
Here’s an insanely quick and easy way to clean the microwave – without using a drop of cleaning detergents. Yet again, I forgot to get a “before” photo. But after I tried my inspired cleaning idea, and it worked, I did it again so that I could take a few pics for you all.
- Take a folded rag and wet it with water. Just water. Not soaking and dripping, but pretty wet.
- Place it in the microwave.
- Microwave on high for 2 minutes.
- Open microwave door, and watch the steam pour out. Can you see the steam? It’s the blurry white areas:
- Using a rubber glove or oven mitt to protect your hand from the heat, grab the steamy hot rag (that sounds funny, but do it anyway) and wipe down the ceiling, walls, floor, and tray of the microwave. The grunge should come right off.
See this rag that I’m holding up? That chocolatey-brown stain is, in fact, all the grunge that I wiped off the base of the machine after steaming it. And see how clean the rest of the microwave is? Only minutes earlier it had been splattered in spaghetti sauce, chocolate, soup, and a million other things. Trust me.
It’s really that simple. And if it worked on my grunge-encrusted microwave, then it’s sure to work on yours.
Do you have any cleaning cheats that are almost too easy to be real?
Phone Book Pile-Up
Has it happened to you yet this year? Because it’s already happened to us. In bulk. One day a phone book appeared in our driveway, uninvited, wrapped not only in cellophane, but also a plastic bag. Then the next day it happened again. This cycle repeated for several days, amassing quite the load of paper in our recycling bin.
Photo credit: CogDogBlog (who also got 7 phone books) on Flickr
Seriously, people, WHAT THE HECK is up with 7 phone books? When did we go from getting one white pages telephone book, and one yellow pages, to getting 6 or 7 phone books of all sorts? Without asking for them? And why, in the day of iPhones and SmartPhones and internet everywhere, do we still distribute them? It really bugs me, because all that paper is going straight to the recycling. Chances are, unless you’re quite old and don’t own a computer, you probably don’t use a phone book anymore.
The good news is you can opt out of receiving them and hopefully help to save a tree or two. Hop on over to the Yellow Pages Association and opt out in just a few easy steps.
A Recycled & Upcycled [En]Counter
Good (late) morning! What a fabulous day – I’m sipping the perfect dry cappuccino in an eco-friendly coffee shop in Richmond, VA.
When a great local organic grocery store, Ellwood Thompson’s, opened a coffee shop in Richmond, I knew I had to check it out. Not only was the locally-roasted, fair trade espresso at Ellwood’s Coffee tasty, but the shop itself was touted as “a sustainably built, conscientiously run, community gathering place.” Upon further investigation I found that they worked with local, sustainable, eco-friendly businesses to create the space, and I dig that.
On my first visit I discovered the most interesting counter tops I’d ever seen:
They’re made of a mix of concrete, industrial by-products, and recycled glass and other bits from the store’s own recycling bins. The soda can tabs, bottle caps, and larger bits of glass are visible, too.
Now I guess some people may not like to see recylced “trash” in their kitchen counters, but I think it looks interesting and awesome. When the day comes that I own a home, I’d love to use counters like these in my kitchen.
As for the rest of the decor in the shop? More awesomeness. The furniture was all rescued from thrift stores along the east coast, and the wood used inside the shop was reclaimed from Richmond’s old Lucky Strike Tobacco warehouse.
I even found some inexpensive art inspiration in the bathroom, of all places, where old wood and metal scraps were upcycled into a whimsical neighborhood. The houses are “painted” with paper collages. I would love to make something like this for my walls!
Now if you’ll excuse me, I’ve got a tasty cappuccino to finish, and some Blogging Your Way homework to tackle. This class has me pretty busy, so I’ll be back to post only on Wednesday and Friday this week. In the mean time, I’d love to know what you think of those counter tops: would you ever consider using them in your home?
(This post is in no way sponsored by any of the businesses mentioned, but I’d like to give a shout-out to the local RVA businesses who helped make Ellwood’s Coffee as awesome as it is: Acorn Sign Graphics, Concrete Ideas, E.T. Moore Reclaimed Timbers, and Sally Smith Ltd.)
Gardening: Square One
This is a garden. A square-foot garden. It just might be the easiest garden ever invented, and it’s the perfect non-invasive solution for renters!
When my college roommate made a surprise visit, I rewarded her spontaneity by putting her to work helping me create my very first “square foot garden.” I was following the method outlined in Mel Bartholomew’s book, All New Square Foot Gardening. Here’s an overview of how we built it, but for all the nitty-gritty details on the method, I’d recommend buying his book.
After obtaining the supplies (wood, plants, dirt ingredients), the actual assembly of the garden took no more than 2 hours. And I was glad it went quickly, as we were racing against an angry, overcast sky.
The great thing about this garden system is that you don’t have to till a huge plot of ground – saving you time, money, and a heck of a lot of effort. This garden method works on top of your yard, patio, driveway, or even roof.
We assembled a 4 foot x 4 foot box frame out of untreated 2×6 boards. The garden only has to be 6″ deep, using a recipe for the perfect soil mix that will nurture and feed your garden in that shallow an area. I then carried it over to a sad patch of dirt on the side of my house. It gets great sunlight and could use some healthy, growing plants.
After we set the frame in just the right spot – a level spot with no soggy areas – we lined it with weed blocking fabric. (I bought the most eco-friendly stuff I could find.)
Then it was time to mix the soil. To ensure success with the square foot gardening method, it’s best to follow the recipe for “Mel’s Mix,” a particular blend that is 30% vermiculite, 30% peat moss, and 30% compost from several sources. I did my best to adhere to the recipe . . . for maybe the first time in my life! We mixed it, one small batch at a time, in a big Rubbermaid container. In the future I’d mix it all at once on a huge tarp, as suggested by the book.
Yeah, it’s definitely harder to mix it in the little rubbermaid, like this:
Regardless, once we’d mixed enough batches to fill the 4×4 garden frame, it was time to lay out the grid.
Using some biodegradable twine (because I certainly don’t want to leech any chemicals into my garden), I created a grid of 1×1 squares.
Once the garden was divided into 1×1 squares, I consulted my book to see how many plants could be fit in each square. For example, large plants such as tomatoes and broccoli are planted one per square, while swiss chard and Brussel sprouts are planted 4 per square.
. . . and as the rain, which had threatened us all day, began to fall, we wiggled the last few plants into the garden. Perfect timing.
A weekend spent with visiting with good friends, wielding power tools, and playing in the dirt? Now that’s what I call a great weekend.
I couldn’t believe how quickly and easily it all went together. Have you tried this method? If so, were you pleased with it?
Live a little
With the plant-attacking foster kittens finally adopted out to a permanent home, my living room was ready to live a little. I couldn’t wait bring the outdoors in with a small grouping of houseplants. They’re fresh, they’re cheerful, and you can’t beat having a real live air filter.
This little grouping only set me back 20 bucks, pots and all, during my last trip to Ikea. And let me tell you, they seem to really be enjoying the little bit of sunlight they get in that window. I wanted an interesting grouping of textures, so I paired the spiky leaves of the aloe with a small bushy plant and the taller braided tree. I really like how it turned out.
Ahhh, that bright dose of green really does keep things cheerful. I don’t know about you, but I’m ready for gardening season. These guys will tide me over until then.
New Patio Furniture
This past weekend I reveled in the warm spring weather while doing two of my favorite things: furniture shopping and home decorating. Shocking, huh?
My patio upgrade is by far one of the most useful projects I’ve done here at the Borrowed Abode. Every spring, summer, and fall, the menagerie and I can often be found hangin’ on the back patio area. As of this weekend, we’re now hangin’ in style.
When it came to patio furniture I – surprisingly – knew exactly what I wanted:
- Solid wood that was ready to weather the outdoors
- Not made in China
- Table space for 2-1o people
- Seating for both dining and lounging
- Reasonably priced (but of course!)
- No wicker
I did a ton of research to find the perfect pieces. I’m confident that Ikea has the best deal around. They have a slew of outdoor dining and lounging options, all crafted from solid Acacia wood. Acacia furniture is resilient enough to live outdoors from spring-fall, and it only wants occasional oilings to keep in shape. The only catch? Each Ikea gets one shipment of the Acacia stuff per year. Once they’re out of furniture, you’re outta luck.
And that is why I dipped into my savings to score a patio set early Saturday morning. I didn’t want to miss out. An hour later, Strawberry-Basil Caipirinha in hand, I set about assembling the furniture. It was the easiest Ikea furniture assembly I’ve ever performed. I was done in a jiffy.
These sturdy and adjustable armchairs can do double duty for lounging and dining. I sprung for the slightly pricier versions ($70 instead of $50) which can be adjusted from an upright position into a slightly more reclining one. I passed on the matching taupe cushions. I can DIY colorful ones for much less than $30 each.
And at only $20 a seat, these folding wood chairs are awesome and uber-useful. They’ll provide classy seating for a bbq – but can be folded and stowed in the closet when not in use. Heck, they’d even look ok if I had to pull ‘em out for guests at an indoor party.
And now for the pièce de résistance. I wanted a table with extra seating options, and boy did I get it. The Applaro Drop-Leaf Table can seat anywhere from 4-10 people. In its smaller form, the leaves can hang at each side – or they can be removed altogether in about 5 seconds. Here she is in her smaller form, with the leaves attached:
And here she is in all her extended-leaf, 10-seater glory. Isn’t she fabulous?
Now for the part more impressive than my ability to assemble the furniture alone. She’s only $99 at Ikea. Isn’t that fantastic?
Sure, I could have gotten a table and chairs for less, maybe on Craigslist. But this set was worth every penny. As I write this, I sit at the table with the dogs at my side, and the cat rolling happily on the table top.
Bonus: The furniture wasn’t made in China, and was made of sustainably harvested wood. Plus, with no need for stains or paints, it’s pretty environmentally friendly to maintain!
But what do you think? Are there better bargains elsewhere? Or are you as impressed as I am?
